A curtain airbag apparatus is an airbag apparatus that protects an occupant from an impact from a vehicle width (lateral) direction due to a side collision or the like. An airbag cushion (hereinafter simply referred to as “cushion”) of a curtain airbag apparatus has a relatively large shape which inflates and deploys along a side window, and is stored on an inner side of an interior material such as a headliner (also called a roof trim) above the side window.
Generally, the cushion of a curtain airbag apparatus is, for example, folded in a bellows shape in an up-down direction or rolled in a roll shape in an up-down direction, and stored in a storage form that is elongated in a vehicle front-rear direction. In Japanese Publication No. 2004-338542, for example, a cushion in an elongated state can be installed in an even narrower storage space by further bending over a rear end side thereof in the vehicle front-rear direction.
However, when an end portion of a cushion in an elongated state is bent over and the cushion is stored as in the above-cited reference, a bent-over portion at the end portion of the cushion is longer when a storage space therefor is narrower. Although the bent-over portion is eliminated by gas pressure when the cushion inflates and deploys, an operation in which the bent-over portion is eliminated is larger when the folded over portion is longer. Therefore, if an excessively long area of the cushion is bent over, the operation during inflation and deployment is larger, significant interference occurs between the cushion and the headliner, and restraint of the occupant may be delayed.
In view of such problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a curtain airbag apparatus capable of contributing to early restraint of an occupant in addition to achieving a cushion storage form that is more compact.